October 2012

A Knoxville engineering resources firm recently became the newest licensee of technology developed at the Y-12 National Security Complex. MK Technologies Corporation is now the exclusive commercial patent licensee of SIMWyPES®, a method of enhancing cleaning items so that they leave dry surfaces ultraclean.

The environmentally friendly method of removing contamination on a nanoscale level incorporates a highly effective nontoxic proprietary treatment that transfers no residue to cleaned surfaces. A variety of items including cloths, swabs, polishers, filters and sponges can be treated. The company plans to start production in 2013. Read about the cleaning technology.

About the photo:MK Technologies CEO and founder Mike Carroll and director of strategic development and acquisition Chris Van Beke met Y-12 chemist and inventor Ron Simandl in his Y-12 laboratory to see the SIMWyPES® production process along with a sampling of its numerous applications. From left, Simandl shows Van Beke and Carroll two of a variety of items enhanced with SIMWyPES® technology.

Pantexans are proud of the work they do to “Secure America,” but Wanda Call was looking to make an impact on a more local security issue in her spare time. Call, the Internal Audit Manager for B&W Pantex, found the opportunity she was looking for three years ago when she became treasurer for Amarillo Crime Stoppers.

“My special interest in Crime Stoppers was to make Amarillo and the surrounding communities a safer place to live and work by getting criminals off the street,” Call said.

Call was honored for her dedication last week when she received the Board Member of the Year Award from the Texas Crime Stoppers Council, the first time the honor has gone to a board member from Amarillo, said Cpl. Sean Slover, coordinator of Amarillo Crime Stoppers Inc.

Crime Stoppers pays cash rewards to individuals who anonymously give tips about criminals that ultimately lead to arrest. Call, who has worked at Pantex more than 13 years, picked up her award at the 24th Annual Texas Crime Stoppers Conference in New Braunfels, Texas, earlier this month.

Los Alamos National Laboratory recently showcased some of its cutting-edge research concepts at the annual Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) event, “Creating Our Tomorrows, LDRD Day 2012.” LDRD Day is a rare opportunity to get a glimpse into the future of science and engineering at LANL.

LDRD funding supports the most advanced, high-risk ideas at LANL. LDRD at LANL is a prestigious source of internal funding awarded to top-notch scientists and engineers to address national problems in the areas of energy security, nuclear security and scientific discovery and innovation.

As part of the project to translocate 60 desert tortoises to the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), a competition was held to name the fastest moving tortoise. From the more than 100 suggested names, Scurry was the winner with 30 votes posted on NNSS’s Facebook page. Second place was Rock Steady and third place was Taco.

The name Scurry certainly fits this young but incredibly fast tortoise, who has traveled more than six kilometers since Sept. 21, 2012, when he and 59 of his friends were moved from the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center in Las Vegas to the Nevada National Security Site.

Following the translocation, Scurry immediately went on the move and surpassed even the quickest of his mates. Most of the tortoises, including Scurry, are settling down now and are expected to claim one general burrowing location for the rest of the fall and winter. Each week researchers continue to record the location, burrow size and type and the kind of plants surrounding the burrows of each tortoise.

The winning name came from Patricia Guy Cooper who received a gift basket provided by the Nevada Field Office.

Steve Castillo, manager of Sandia’s Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Systems Engineering & Decision Support group, has been named 2012 Engineer of the Year by the Hispanic Engineering National Achievement Awards Conference (HENAAC).

He received HENAAC’s highest honor, which recognizes leadership and technical or scientific achievements.

Castillo received the Engineer of the Year award at the organization’s annual conference. HENAAC was established in 1989 to honor the contributions of outstanding Hispanic American science, engineering, technology and math professionals.

Five Pantex volunteers recently partnered with Girl Scouts to put on a STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) workshop for elementary-aged girls and assisted the Girl Scouts with their STEM-based activities.

Savannah Gates, a Pantex volunteer, said she jumped on the opportunity to volunteer with the Girl Scouts in hopes of being one of the rippling sources for the younger generation of girls.

"It felt so right being surrounded by the women working effortlessly to shape, guide and enable the next generation of young women into the strong female figures of tomorrow,” she said.

Kathi Schutz, Amarillo Area Director for the Girl Scouts, said she was grateful that the women engineers came on the day the Girl Scouts were focused on engineering.

"They made the activities for the girls special just with their insight and passion for their profession," said Schutz. "This group of women spent one afternoon with girls and just by being young professional role models, influenced so many girls in a profound way."

Y-12 has taken additional steps to reduce its energy costs by installing nearly 100,000 square feet of new heat reflective cool roofs at the Oak Ridge, Tenn. facility. The latest Y-12 cool roofs were added to Buildings 9204-2E and 9103. Fifteen percent of roofs at Y-12 are currently equipped with cool roof technology. This technology is expected to be applied to the majority of Y-12 roofs.

“Replacing older, heat-absorbing roofs with the heat-reflective cool roofs is part of NNSA’s strategy to achieve energy and cost efficiencies,” said Dino Herrera, NNSA's Deputy Associate Deputy Administrator for Infrastructure and Construction. “We strive to lead the way as good stewards of the environment.”

The light-colored cool roofs reflect more heat than darker roofs emitting absorbed solar radiation back into the atmosphere. By doing so, the roof covering remains relatively cooler and less likely to transfer heat down through the other components of the roof system and into the building.

The average energy savings for cool roofs range up to 15 percent of total cooling costs. Under the Facilities and Infrastructure Recapitalization Program Roof Asset Management Program, NNSA has installed nearly three million square feet of cool roofs at eight sites across the country and expects to save energy and related costs over the next several years.

About the photos: (top right) Y-12 workers install a new “cool” roof on Building 9103 as part of NNSA’s Roof Asset Management Program. (bottom left) A newly installed “cool” roof on Building 9204-2E.

Various activities were held Friday at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as part of its 60th anniversary celebration.

At each activity, LLNL Director Parney Albright praised the lab’s workforce, as he talked about the lab's history, accomplishments and the future.

“There are two common elements: an absolutely outstanding and dedicated workforce, and our ability to take that workforce and leverage cutting-edge, state-of-the-art science in the service of the nation,” Albright said. “Our country is absolutely better off, safer and more secure because of the work that this laboratory has done over the last 60 years.”

Albright said, “We are really celebrating is not just the past 60 years, but the future of this Laboratory."

Science & Technology Day highlighted LLNL's record of innovation with featured speakers and panel discussions and a special awards ceremony. Albright gave out the Director's Awards to four team efforts as part of the Science & Technology Day activities. In addition, 15 former LLNL scientists and engineers were inducted into the Livermore's new Entrepreneurs' Hall of Fame.

NNSA's Sequoia supercomputer housed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has received a 2012 Breakthrough Award from Popular Mechanics magazine. Sequoia, an IBM BlueGene/Q machine, is ranked No. 1 on the industry-standard TOP500 list of the world's fastest high performance computing systems.

The annual Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards recognize the 10 top "world-changing" innovations each year in fields ranging from computing and engineering to medicine, space exploration and automotive design.

Breakthrough Awards are given in two categories: innovators, whose inventions will make the world smarter, safer and more efficient in the years to come, and products, which are setting benchmarks in design and engineering today.